New Year, New You?

Author: Dr. Sarah Mischo, DMD

Well, it’s that time of year yet again when we are well into January and may or may not still be following our New Year’s resolutions. Almost everyone has made a resolution of wanting to eat healthier, exercise more, see friends more frequently, etc. etc, but how many of you can say you are still following the resolutions you put in place for yourself? On January 1st, I heard an interesting news segment and read an insightful article that discussed New Year’s resolutions. According to these sources, almost half of all Americans decide to participate in the age-old tradition of making yearly resolutions, but according to Dr. John Norcross, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton who conducted studies back in the 80’s, only 40% of Americans followed their New Year’s resolution for at least six months.

What should your New Year’s resolution include to set you up for success? Your goal should be a SMART goal. “SMART” stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Here is an example of how to turn a non-specific goal into a ‘SMART’ goal:

Goal: “I’m going to take better care of my teeth.” An example of revising this to a SMART goal would be “I’m going to floss my teeth nightly before bed at least 6 days a week for the next six months”

Specific: Rather than focusing on a broad topic, it focuses on a specific behavior that you have direct control over.

Measurable: Rather than a subjective statement like “taking better care”, you can check off on your calendar that you actually flossed 6 out of the 7 days a week.

Achievable: Nobody is perfect, and resolving to do something every single day is probably unrealistic. Plus, if you set your goal too high and fall short early, you may be tempted to give up on the goal completely. Maybe you don’t floss at all right now, instead of starting out trying to floss 6 days a week, maybe start with 2 days and go from there.

Relevant: Consider the “why” behind your goal. For example if you floss this will improve your oral hygiene and hopefully keep you coming into the office for routine dental cleanings. Time-bound: This is a point where you can reassess your goal and see if there have been any improvements. If you come to the office twice a year for cleanings, you could use your cleaning appointment to reassess and see if what you have been working towards at home has paid off with better overall hygiene.

I hope you all are still on track with whatever resolutions you decided to make for yourself, and I hope that one of your resolutions is to stay on schedule with your hygiene visits at Spring Lake Dental Group!

Article Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/resolutions-new-years-research-advice-11672863827 https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/experts-share-advice-making-new-years-resol utions-start-94364502